Do You Believe in Destiny?
by Pointless Nostalgic
Summary: This is not a story of love at first sight. This is a story of people who are seemingly opposites, brought together by an unknown force. Is it hate? Is it love? Or is it fate?
1. Chapter 1

Do You Believe in Destiny?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are all property of J.K. Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them.

Three months. Two thousand, one hundred and sixty hours. Seven million, seven hundred seventy six thousand seconds. That was precisely how long it took for James Potter to change from a self-centered, all-too-stuck-up teenager to a mature adult. It hadn't been easy, of course. It had taken coaching from his best friends—cross that. It had taken coaching from Remus Lupin, while the other two watched and laughed. He had learned and mastered the 307 rules of being a gentleman and an adult over these short three months. Every rule from "Never ask a girl if she is on her period" (#34) to "Chocolates and flowers are ideal forgiveness offerings along with great anytime any reason gifts" (#178) was engraved into his head day and night over and over. And what was the motivation for such rigorous work?

None other than Ms. Lily Evans.

It made perfect sense to him, even if everyone else thought he was out of his mind. The last words she had said to him before seventh year was over were, "Grow up, asshole," and so he did. It was as simple as that.

He had tried so many things in the past, and unfortunately every single outrageous and bizarre wooing attempt had failed. One Sirius Black was the one to create many, if not most of these plans, and he was notorious for saying, "I was positive that one would work out!" after every single endeavor had turned out to be a letdown, before going off to a corner to laugh uncontrollably. Finally, he took Remus' advice: "If you want her that badly, do what she asks—go change if it means that much to you," he would say in bored tones. That was exactly what he did, and what happened?

It didn't work.

He had been appointed Head Boy (another surprise) and in the Head Compartment on the Hogwarts Express he found himself face to face with a screaming redhead when she found out. He didn't understand a few things she said, but he did catch, "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!" and "THIS BETTER BE A JOKE, EVEN THOUGH I DON'T FIND THIS FUNNY AT ALL!" During this entire screaming fest, he just sat there, watching her, unwearied and uncomplaining. That was rule #99—don't argue, because it will only make it worse. Instead, sort things out calmly. Finally, she noticed that he wasn't fighting back, and she let out a huff, asking, "Aren't you going to say anything?" at which he merely shook his head a bit. Of course, she probably expected him to say something like, "Ah, welcome to hell, Evans!" or "Ha! We have dorms together too, huh! Y'know what that means," in a tone laced with innuendo. But no, he chose to stay silent, not that it helped much—she merely stomped out of the compartment. Bitterly, he figured that she was off to complain to someone, but immediately berated himself for thinking such a thing.

Since James wasn't in the same dorm as the other three Marauders, he didn't get a chance to consult with them on what he should do about what was going on, but he occasionally pulled them aside to talk about their rules. He didn't doubt that they were weary of these idiotic rules, but he didn't relinquish this goal of his. That was one of his best traits—persistence. It had its downsides too, but his ability to continually persevere through anything was what he liked most about himself. Still, when he would lean over to Peter in the middle of History of Magic and whisper, "What was rule #87 again?" he would intermittently receive a glare, a shove, or an angry gesture in response. He did not deter, though.

Weeks went by which slowly turned into months, and Lily did not budge. He instated every single one of his 307 rules, particularly around Ms. Evans, but she didn't seem to notice at all. That confidence that he had been working relentlessly to tame was starting to diminish, and his hope flickered. All of this work, and nothing. He didn't expect her to run up to him as soon as she saw him on September 1st, screaming, "Please, ravish me right here!" or anything ridiculous like that, but he had expected at least a bit acknowledgement of his work. Unfortunately, she seemed to be ignorant of what he had gone through.

November came and went and James realized that it was time for him to intervene in the situation. He planned everything that he would say, all the way down to the pauses he would make and the movements he would make with his hands. It had been far too easy to set up: he found her in the Library and told her that he needed to talk to her about a future Hogsmeade visit. He lured her into Classroom Eleven, and sat her down in one of the desks.

"What do we need to talk about? I thought we already decided on the 18th of December," she said irritably, though he tried his best to ignore the tone of her voice.

"Lily, do you believe in destiny?" He hadn't planned to ask such a question, but it just popped out of his mouth. Turning to look over at her, he frowned a bit and awaited an answer.

For several moments, silence met his stare, until she finally asked, "What?" Silence followed once again until she asked another question. "I thought we were talking about—…" Unfortunately, she was interrupted.

"Do you believe in destiny?" he repeated, in the same tone. All airs of condescension and superiority had left his voice, and he was left with pure honesty. This was exactly what he had worked for.

"No," she said simply. "Now, what in Merlin's name does this have to do with Hogsmeade visits?" she continued, narrowing her eyes and pursing her lips. "You're not going to ask me out again, are you?"

"Why would you think a thing like that? I haven't asked you out since sixth year! You just don't get it, do you?" Frustration slowly entered his voice, and for once, Lily stayed silent. "I've changed! I've done so much to try to please you. Do you remember what you said to me on the platform at the end of sixth year? Your words were grow up, asshole, and so I did what you asked, but you still haven't noticed. I've worked so hard to appease you, but you still won't budge."

Shaking his head in aggravation, he turned around and learned on a desk near him. He tried desperately to recollect himself, though he was having a hard to doing so. His plan had disintegrated, and he was left with this outburst. "Do you believe in destiny?" he asked once more.

"I already told you, I don't. Can you not hear me?" The anger in her voice made him cringe, and he shook his head once more and turned around.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you don't believe in destiny." She would do it, he knew that much.

And she did. The words spilled out of her mouth as she stared at him face on with a frown. He had no idea where he was going from there, and took several moments to figure this out, before he continued.

"Well, I do. And I believe that my destiny says that you're the one I'm supposed to be with. Why would I work this hard if I wasn't meant to be with you?"

And that was when she retaliated.

"What if I don't want to be part of your destiny? You may feel like the victim here, but I'm so tired of you following me like a goddamn shadow. I'm tired of you being in love with me."

He knew where to segue from there—it was perfect.

"I'm not in love with you." She wasn't expecting such a response, and stood there, openmouthed in shock.

"I thought—…" she began to say, but he didn't let her finish that sentence.

"You thought! I can't love you because you won't let me know you. How can I love a person I don't know? You've been pushing me away for years, and I'll admit, I was a stuck-up idiot back then, but I've been trying so hard. I'm not asking you to marry me, Lily; I'm asking you to give me a chance. That's it! Just one chance, and if I mess up, then that's my fault."

Several moments passed in silence that was utterly deafening. "I took the entire summer learning to be a better person," he said quietly, his voice almost inaudible. "A very wise person said if you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life."

"Oscar Wilde…" he heard her say faintly.

"That was rule #221—use quotes, because they'll make you seem smarter," he said quickly, at which a confused look came to Lily's face. "307 rules. That's how many I memorized to be better. Don't let my work go to waste. One date. Please."

He didn't realize it until then, but his heart was beating at an incredible rate. He waited patiently, watching her. He could see her mind working quickly, and those few seconds it took for her to answer seemed like years.

"No."

That one word made his heart stop dead. He blinked once. Twice. Three times, before he gave her a disappointed look. That wasn't the Lily Evans he knew. She was the one that would save a moth flopping around in the lake, or lend a first year her old notes. It seemed that all of her hate was directed towards him, and to everyone else, she gave love.

"Then it's not me that has to change…It's you."

The words he said made his heart clench, but he meant them. He had done his work, and if she didn't accept him after all of that, then it wasn't worth it. He was a new person, freshly created from an unbelievable metamorphosis, while she was still the same person.

And so, with that, he slowly walked out of classroom, leaving her there in the desk. He didn't go to talk to the Marauders—he wasn't sure if he would ever be ready to face them. Instead, he went back to the Head Dorm and sat on his bed, completely still.

An hour later, Lily hadn't come back to the dorms and out of pure impulse, James fished out the Marauder's Map to find where she was. It was past curfew by that time, and he couldn't help but wonder where she was at so late. It was a bit of a shock for him to see her still sitting there in Classroom Eleven, right in the middle of the room where he sat her down. Rummaging through his trunks, he found his invisibility cloak and ventured down to the first floor.

The door was still open from when he walked out, and he could see her there. At first, he thought that she could have fell asleep, but this thought left his mind when he saw her put her head in her hands. He knew he couldn't go in there now, after what happened, so he decided on sitting down in front of the classroom to simply watch her. After another fifty minutes, she fell asleep, and he continued to watch her for a few more minutes. Her head was resting on the desk, which he figured was quite uncomfortable. And so, with that, he slowly walked into the classroom, took off his cloak, and finally carried her back to the dorms.

Rule #61 was, afterall, never to compromise a lady's comfort.

---

I don't know exactly where this came from, but I was sitting at my computer and words just started coming out. This story isn't done, though. It's a two-shot, and the second and final installment will be come in the future, hopefully soon. I hope you enjoyed it, because I enjoyed writing it.


	2. Chapter 2

Do You Believe in Destiny? 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are all property of J.K. Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them.

"_Then it's not me that has to change…It's you." _

The words had stuck with her, all the way through Christmas break. Even though Lily had agreed to go home for the holidays, his voice followed her there, mocking her all day and night. Her parents began to worry when she zoned out and wouldn't answer their questions. In fact, she began to worry about herself. Something was clearly wrong here.

She remembered one night, when she desperately hoped he would come flying through her window on his broom to give her another chance like in the stories, but no such thing happened. Even so, she kept her window wide open, despite the frigid air of December. It wasn't surprising, then, that she got a cold and was thoroughly sick for the next several days. She slept more often than usual, and her dreams were filled with none other than Mr. James Potter.

In one dream, they found each other at school, where she apologized profusely for the wrongs she had committed. In such dream, he just turned his head and said, "You're too late," before he dissipated into thin air. She ran around the castle to every corner known to her, trying to find him, but she had no such luck. He was gone. In another dream, a much happier one, they ran into each other at the train station. She fell down and he helped her up while both of them apologized for running into the other. Then, just like in a fairytale, they stared at each other for quite some time, before they met in a kiss.

Both of these dreams confused Lily quite a bit. Sure, she felt bad for what she had said to James, but she in no way wanted to kiss him or spend her days searching for him. In the back of her mind, she reminded herself that dreams told your deepest desires, but refused to believe such a thing.

It wasn't until a few days later when she was over her sickness when she found the truth. She had gone out for lunch on her own a few blocks away from her house. She was sitting rather peacefully at a table, drinking a cup of tea and reading a book. She was interrupted, though, when someone came up to her table. Her first assumption was that it was a waiter, wanting to ask if she had everything she needed, but she was sorely mistaken.

There, before her, stood a boy that she had gone to school with before she had found out about her magical powers. It took her several moments, but she finally recognized him, though was a bit surprised with herself that she remembered him at all. They welcomed each other, and talked about their lives—Lily danced around the subject of her new school—before finally, he asked if he could have her school address, or at least her number.

"I have a boyfriend, sorry."

She had no idea why she had said such a thing, because she didn't have a boyfriend—only James. It wasn't as if this boy was ugly or anything. On the contrary! He was quite attractive, and funny while we're on the subject of good attributes. For some reason, though, she couldn't bring herself to give someone her number. It had just popped out of her mouth and it wasn't as if she could take it back. Immediately after this, she smiled in embarrassment and excused herself, telling him that she had to meet her "boyfriend." The lies seemed to keep coming before she slipped out of the café, leaving a gracious tip.

She began running towards home, more confused with herself than she had ever been. Unfortunately for her, the sidewalks hadn't been salted and she slipped, landing rather unceremoniously into a pile of snow. Lily tried her best to get up, but unfortunately, fell right back down. It didn't take long for her to remember a situation quite like this only a few weeks ago.

It was in the middle of finals, and Lily had gone outside to collect a few Potions ingredients to help her with her final project. On her way, she observed James and his friends having a snowball fight across the Grounds and she scowled slightly. She knew that they should have been studying at a time so close to finals and couldn't help but to scorn them for their waste of time.

On her way back, she stepped on the end of her scarf and her ingredients went flying along with her body into a giant lump of snow. Glancing up, Lily saw James look over, say something to his friends before he began running over to her.

"Are you okay, Lily?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"I'm fine," she snapped, pushing herself up. To her dismay, she couldn't steady herself and fell down once more, quite embarrassed.

"Woah, let me help you," he said, taking her hands and pulling her back up. "I'll get your things."

Before she had time to argue, he was grabbing her ingredients. In a matter of moments, he was back there, holding them out to her with a smile on his face. It wasn't a mocking smile either; it was a nice, gentle one. She took them, and left without taking the time to thank him.

"Are you alright, dear?"

She was pulled out of her daydream as a middle-aged woman came up to her, staring at her peculiarly. She had completely forgotten that she was sitting in a pile of snow on the side of the road and blushed a bit.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Lily said simply with a smile, and the woman nodded and went on her way.

Ms. Evans chose not to move, though. She sat there, ignoring the fact that her body was going numb. She was in the middle of an epiphany and couldn't risk breaking up her thoughts by standing up.

He wasn't a bad person. He _had_ changed, and she _hadn't_ noticed at all. He was _right_! It was a hard thing for her to admit to herself, but she knew she had to. She thought back to the train, and cringed; she had yelled at him angrily and he had just sat there politely taking the abuse. The worst part was that she hadn't noticed at all! She came to two conclusions in that pile of snow. The first was that she had been a horrible person, and the second was that she was attracted to James Potter.

She enjoyed his company.

Suddenly, without thought, she yelled out, "I like James Potter!" Several passing pedestrians turned to stare at her, but for once, she didn't care at all. She stood up and hurried home, though this time, made sure not to fall again.

It was official: she had changed.

---

I changed my mind. This is going to be a three-shot, so expect one last installment to this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Do You Believe in Destiny?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are all property of J.K. Rowling, and I am in no way trying to steal them.

Lily waited impatiently for Christmas break to end, unbelievably excited for what could happen once she got back. So many things had changed, and suddenly, endless possibilities were opened up to her, which not only fascinated her, but also frightened her beyond belief.

She had lived her entire life planning out exactly what would happen in her future. Her days were plotted out down to the minute—an unbreakable schedule. Now, after only a few days, she found that this agenda had crumbled into nothingness, and all that was left was James Potter, standing in the middle of all of that wreckage. She knew she had to right the one thing she had wronged the most, and that was her relationship with Mr. Potter, and that was exactly what she would do.

When she got back, she was shocked by the find that she couldn't find James right away. She was used to seeing constantly, considering he used to be her shadow, but now he had seemed to disappear. He wasn't in their joint dorm, nor was he in the Gryffindor dorm. Sure, by the time she got back to the castle, it was quite dark out, but she still expected to see him before classes started the next day. This sparked worry in her mind, for the conclusion she immediately came to was that he was ignoring her now that she had messed up.

With nothing else to do, she simply went to bed—she would see him during the next day's classes, and she figured the earlier she went to bed, the faster the next day would come. She got into bed and let out a sigh, closing her eyes. Unfortunately, something was shining a bit too brightly through her eyelids for her to sleep, and she got up to close her window. Grabbing the curtains, she glanced outside for a moment. She took in the beautiful landscape: the full moon shining majestically over the Black Lake, making it glow. With a feeling of regret, she closed her curtains and went back to bed.

Just before she fell asleep, she thought back to the scene out on the Grounds. Perhaps it was just chimerical, but she was almost positive that there were moving figures out on there. She let herself rest, though, because no students would ever be outside in such cold weather this late…Or at least she thought.

The next morning at breakfast, Lily made a point to get there early so that she wouldn't miss James. She ate quickly before she decided to sit there patiently for him. Quite a few students came up to her in irritation, asking her to move considering she was done eating. She would simply grab a muffin or something of the like from the table and say politely, "Oh, sorry, I'm still eating."

He never came to breakfast.

The first class they had together was Transfiguration, though because they merely had a lecture that day, she had no chance to talk to him. The thing that worried her even more was the fact that he didn't even glance her way during the class, while she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. Thankfully, no one else noticed, or if they did, they didn't voice their observations.

The day went on similarly: she continued trying to get his attention while he seemed quite content without talking to her. By the time her last class passed, she realized that she hadn't learned one thing because she hadn't listened to a word any of professors. This couldn't go on… She decided in that moment that she would go and find Mr. Potter and resolve it once and for all.

It wasn't a difficult search. The first place she looked was their dorms, and there he was, doing his homework (which was something odd in and of itself). She had planned what to say in her head, but suddenly, it didn't seem as easy now that he was right there in front of her.

"James?" she said timidly.

In surprise, he turned around to look at her, and smiled a bit. "Oh, hey Lily," he said casually with a polite smile. "Do you need something?"

After several moments of silence, he stood up, abandoning his work to walk over to her. "Is something wrong?"

"You've been avoiding me, haven't you." It wasn't a question; it was merely a statement. A look of bemusement crossed his face though, and obviously had no idea what she was talking about.

"What?" he asked slowly.

"I tried to find you last night, but you were gone," she said quickly, blushing at just how pathetic she sounded.

"Oh, sorry about that. I was…Out…" he said hesitantly, clearly not comfortable with the subject.

She wouldn't ask.

"Well, today I waited for you at breakfast and you didn't come!" she continued with distress.

"I slept in," he said simply.

"Oh…" Looking down, she felt her stomach knot in embarrassment. "You didn't look over at me during classes, though!"

James laughed a bit, though she noticed that it wasn't condescending. "I was trying to learn, Lily."

A prolonged silence followed his explanation, and she continued to stare down at her feet, which she seemed to be finding quite interesting.

"Is something else wrong?" he finally asked tentatively.

She debated over her words, not sure how to respond to such a question. "Do you believe in destiny?" she asked at last, looking up at him quickly.

A small smile came to his face, and he nodded a bit. Nervously, she fiddled with the end of her tie, and with a deep breath, continued.

"I think I do too," she said, almost inaudibly. Somehow, he realized just what she meant by such a question and posed his own question.

"Would you like to join me in Hogsmeade, Lily?" he asked cordially.

A wide smile came to Lily's face—that was what she was waiting for. "I would love that," she gushed, giddy with happiness.

As they stood there, staring at each other, there was no awkwardness between the two. It was a new feeling, foreign to both parties, though neither minded it. "May I kiss you, Lily? Rule #201 says—…" he began, though he was interrupted as Lily pushed herself onto her toes and let their lips touch lightly. It was a chaste kiss, polite but still meaningful. As she pulled back, they smiled at each other, before they laughed a bit together for the first time.

It set the ball rolling for a sequence of events that would change the world as we knew it. That one question—that one force—was what changed it all. It brought together two vastly different people, and brought a child that would save the world from darkness. Fate has things written into her book for every person, things that can never be changed no matter how hard anyone fights it.

What does she have written for you?

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Hurrah! It's done now. Onto another one, I suppose. Oh, I'd like to thank my few reviewers. I appreciate the feedback.


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